I hear that Ardell DellaLoggia is winning the lame SEO contest for “greatest real estate agent in the world” and it got me to thinking. Why is Ardell DellaLoggia the greatest real estate agent in the world? (if nothing else, please read the last line of this post)

1. Ardell DellaLoggia is the greatest real estate agent in the world because she’s never based her content on SEO rather on quality information and analysis.

2. Ardell DellaLoggia is the greatest real estate agent in the world because she is aligned with some of the biggest names in the real estate blogiverse. Likability gets you much further in the blogiverse than being a jerk- because of her kind nature, people like Dustin Luther have linked to her in regards to Ardell DellaLoggia being the greatest real estate agent in the world.

3. I think this misguided contest is ridiculous and I’m pretty sure Ardell DellaLoggia, the greatest real estate agent in the world won’t lose any sleep if she doesn’t win.

4. After I hit the publish button, I’ll be headed over to Facebook to share the link and to Twitter to make sure everyone knows to write in their blogs about the fact that Ardell DellaLoggia is the greatest real estate agent in the world.

Let’s show these SEO focused peeps the sheer POWER of social media *over* code manipulation!

This week’s “Austin in 10 Pics or Less” pertains to our Monday night out for the SXSW Interactive mixer. We sure had a lot of fun, check it out:

[PIC ONE]

We arrived at Mohawk on 9th and Red River at about 7:30 and parking sucked because the Frank Erwin Stadium is up the street and the Kansas Jayhawks had come to visit Austin with sad hopes of winning (which they did not):

[PIC TWO]

I’m on the left with devil eyes- we were hanging out with Grant and met tons of other peeps like Ryan, Alex (aka Bald Man), Omar, and Thom- most of whom we’d talked to on Twitter prior to the mixer (thank God I look the same in my pics so people recognized me)!

[PIC THREE]

Benn found the fountain of youth via a couple of cadillac margaritas (margaritas w/ Patron).

[PIC FOUR]

I’m more of a beer girl myself. I was thirsty.

[PIC FIVE]

We shut this place DOWN! At 10:30 there were 5 of us left and the free drinks ended. The staff was staring at us, having swept the bar and started kindly tapping toes for us to leave.

[PIC SIX]

Hipster bar, Club Deville is next door to Mohawk so three of us headed over to close THAT bar down. (they were watching the original King Kong or Godzilla on a bigscreen inside, so we sat on the outside patio- it was gorgeous outside)

[PIC SEVEN]

Scott Belmonte, local tech genius was part of our three-person-party at Deville. He had a trendy shirt underneath the Abercrombie jacket, we swear!

[PIC EIGHT]

As did many people, Scott had his laptop and whipped out his Chris Walken SNL collection and proved how ridiculously good his Walken impression was. I think it would have been funny, even without beer!

[PIC NINE]

We then took the beautiful but looong drive home from downtown Austin to Leander. Maybe that’s why we don’t go out all the time…

So, we did it in under 10 pics- sweet! We look forward to seeing all of our new friends from the mixer at “SouthBy” (I learned the trendy shorthand for South By Southwest this week) in March!

Inman moves to partial feeds for feed readers. I generally keep it a policy to unsubscribe to any feed that I am forced to go to a page for. I know there is controversy over full vs. partial feed offerings, but I have way too much on my plate to manage having to click over to every single blog.

C’mon Inman…

…feed my blog addiction and go back to full feeds!

I recently learned about a really awesome way to branch out your local blog- a photo blog set up from your camera phone! Ines shoots pics all over Miami with her sexy iPhone as she zips around town practicing real estate and it automatically posts on her separated photo blog. It is a great way to branch out her blog and gain traction on her main blog.

Check it out, and tell us in the comments how you think you can make this innovative idea a part of your marketing plan!

When my new WordPress theme was revealed recently, I received a TON of praise (which really should have been aimed at Benn who did all the work, but I’m fine accepting credit where it’s not due). What changed was my image, but I didn’t take the extra step to add new initiatives (…yet), rather I polished my old ones.

This is not the case over at Agent Genius. It could be that I am biased because I am a contributor there (and I married the host), but I doubt it. The launch of the new theme is so much more than a sexy outfit the blog put on- it is a brand. Bloggers often see themselves as simply a microphone, but the genius that is Agent Genius understands that it is possible to actually be a brand. The new site features initiatives such as a clean, bold platform, a focus on the authors’ speaking and consulting abilities, and a kick@ss lightbox feature that will soon reveal more about the contributors, as well as a new series of product reviews.

Not only is the site gorgeous, the brand is going to continue to grow- I’m very proud to be a part of Agent Genius! Please go to the site and comment on what you like and look forward to in the coming months- I know Benn (who has secretly been working on the site until sunrise for the last month) would appreciate it. Congrats on the brand launch, AG!

For those of you reading RErevealed in your feed reader, this slide show will not show up, so make sure to visit the main site! It’s hard work, I know….

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Contrary to popular belief, the title is “Meme Time,” not “Me Me Time” (although it usually is ME time).   Vicki has tagged me for a meme (click here if you’ve never heard of a meme).  Here are the rules: (1) list 7 things about yourself, (2) tag 7 people to do the meme on themselves including a link to their site.

7 Things About Me:

1. Hip Hop/Rap is the best music genre in my opinion.
2. I admit that I went to the gym 10 times total last year.
3. I have family in the US, New Zealand and Kenya.
4. I don’t ever want to be in politics (although I would support my husband running for office).
5. I don’t like gold jewelry- won’t wear it.
6. I flip flops year round- no cold sensors in my feets. (UPDATE:  I wear flip flops.  Dang verbs.)
7. I am addicted to Mountain Dew and White Cheddar Cheez-Its.

Because I’m obligated to and because you know you wanted me to, I tag the following bloggers to tell us 7 things about themselves: Shailesh, Chris, Ardell, Kris, Mike, Athol & Dalton.

As I mentioned on Beautiful Chaos, I am really impressed with the “Meet Henry” series on Slideshare.  I can’t tell who originated them, but I love the concept of showing who a person is through simple photos.  Let me know what you think (minus the part about having too many pets)!!!

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Benn posted a very thoughtful article on AG about the fallout of being a tech pioneer and posited that people who sell Web 2.0 as THE way are damaging their followers because Web 2.0 is only A way.  In the comments, he notes:

“…it stands to reason that if you’ve removed your focus from standard marketing/cut your mailers out, cut out your phone calls, cut out your door knocking then yes, someone will fill that void and take that business- because it does still work.”

Web 2.0 is great for the people online, but my grandparents aren’t online, most people at my church haven’t heard of a blog, even a NAR rep sent to speak at a local conference (who runs their “blog” by the way) hadn’t heard of Agent Genius, Bloodhound Blog or even (gasp) RErevealed, supporting the theory that an internet presence is important but if you put all of your eggs in one basket, you make yourself vulnerable and as mentioned above, someone else who has a balanced marketing plan will take business you could have had. 

I think most readers here would agree that flashy Internet marketing is one of many tools you should have in your toolbox, that you should still keep at least a portion of your marketing diversified.  Most readers herewould agree that people buy homes because of the qualities of the home and usually because of their invaluable agent’s time negotiating the contract to close process, not because they clicked “buy” on some MLS search.  If you think Web2.0 is the only way and that the Internet alone sells homes, don’t they call you a Redfinner?

The whine +  the friend who inadvertently helped me whine = the RESULT.  For all of you husbands telling your wife that nagging persistence doesn’t pay off, you’ve been proven wrong.  I can tell Tony’s married…

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Kris & I will be sharing the necktie at BHBU- watch out!